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'Ragtime' Actor Files Suit in Wrongful Arrest

A leading actor in the Broadway musical ''Ragtime'' who was mistakenly arrested last summer filed a lawsuit against the Police Department yesterday that demands changes in arrest policies.

The actor, Alton Fitzgerald White, 35, who will finish his run as Coalhouse Walker Jr. when ''Ragtime'' closes on Sunday, was arrested on July 16 in the vestibule of his apartment building in Harlem by officers who said they had received a call about Hispanic men in T-shirts who were carrying guns.

Mr. White was handcuffed and taken to the 33rd Precinct station house, where he was strip-searched, held for four hours and initially questioned without being read his rights, the suit said. He was released without being charged with any crime.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Mr. White, contends in the lawsuit that Mr. White's arrest was part of a broad pattern by the Police Department ''to arrest thousands of New Yorkers every year without legal justification.''

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''This is a clear-cut example of police officers putting their lives on the line and acting well within the scope of their duties to protect the lives of Mr. White and his neighbors,'' Mr. Grasso said in a written statement. ''It is, indeed, a shame that Mr. White refuses to understand this concept.''

The police said they found a kilogram of cocaine in the lobby of the building on July 16 and arrested five men in addition to Mr. White. Two were charged with criminal drug possession.

The other men who were arrested but not charged filed a separate civil rights lawsuit yesterday. Each of the three, Ronald C. Jackson, Christopher Montgomery and Marcus McCollum, was held for about five hours before being released.

All four men in the lawsuits are black. Both suits accuse the police of singling out members of minorities in New York for arrest.

In addition to seeking compensatory and punitive damages, both lawsuits seek a declaration by a judge that the police engaged in illegal arrest practices.

''We're seeking systemic change,'' said Norman Siegel, executive director of the civil liberties union, ''and an end to police practices that are poisoning police-community relations in New York City.''